The Flower That Shattered the Stone
by Coneflower Adams
Summary: Alone with his taunting memories and no spinning wheel to help him forget, Rumpelstiltskin began to think he was finally going mad.
1. Chapter 1

He knew he wasn't crazy, at least that was before the Dark One was captured.

After a days in the magical cell, alone with his taunting memories and no spinning wheel to help him forget, Rumpelstiltskin began to think he was finally going mad.

Belle was dead. He investigated her death, finding the grave on the outskirts of her village where paupers were buried. It took every bit of willpower to not claw the ground open and see the body for himself. He couldn't bring back the dead. He'd made that clear to everyone who desired his help to do so, but he could barely convince himself of his own words. _Dead is dead_.

He left his True Love to rest there, the cold ground undeserving of her warm soul. The grave was proof enough.

Now, imprisoned in the magical cell made just to keep him, Rumpelstiltskin regretted not digging up Belle's grave. Doubt plagued him as he paced from one side to the other, or climbed the bars in the cell day and night. He never rested, his mind always pondering on past mistakes, presents plans, and things to come.

It was a week after being captured that the hallucinations began. He heard his name being called, and it was by no guard and who would visit him?

"Rumpelstiltskin" her soft voice called, echoing in his ear and Rumpelstiltskin snapped his head up to find Belle across the cell from him. He shrank back against the craggy wall of rocks, assuming it was her ghost. But, no, he realized as he blinked wide-eyed at her. It was not his cell she indwelled. The image was as if projected on the other side of the prison wall.

He couldn't breathe, couldn't move a muscle as he watched Belle's slim figure stand from the bed she was seated upon. A long, royal blue dress clung to her, a slit up the side revealing a bountiful view of her right upper thigh.

"Please, Rumpelstitlskin," Belle pleaded to the air. "If you can hear me, I need you. Please, I need you." Her cheeks were flushed and stained with tears as she peered around, seeming to wait for him to materialize and answer her plea. When no answer came, Belle bent to sit again, defeat weighting on her shoulders. Her hands rested in her lap and it was then that Rumpelstitlskin noticed the manacles around her wrists.

A tear dropped onto Belle's hand as she whispered, "I love you" and vision vanished as quickly as it appeared.

He stared at the blank stone wall, heart threatening to pound out his chest. It was just a hallucination. That's it.

Rumpelstitlskin swallowed hard, his nerves on edge. Belle was dead. She was not chained to a wall in a prison calling for him to help her. _Dead is dead._ He giggled madly at the concept. Everyone assumed he was crazy. Now it was truly coming to be.

Stealthy, he scaled up the bars to the ceiling, needing to detach from whatever madness that was consuming him. He had to focus on what was to come. Soon, he'd be visited by two women asking for his help, but truly the one woman he wished to help was dead.


	2. Chapter 2

If she appeared again, he would ignore it. It did no good to torture himself further. He could do that well enough on his own without hallucinations adding to the fire.

Hours passed or maybe days, he did not know anymore. The whole outside world was cut off, even the awareness of day and night. It was all one long, eternal night in the cave. The only way to mark the time was by the single meal the guards provided. Tormenting the guards was entertaining, no matter how fleeting the exchange was. He had no use for food, but the meager helping of stale bread and porridge was a brief distraction to the droning of the day.

Rumpelstiltskin maneuvered the tray through the bars, thrilling sharply as he slid it away from the cell, disappearing into the darkness of the cave. A guard was sure to trip over it. It was the least he could do to amuse himself.

A flicker of light caught the corner of his eye, and he spun around, grunting at the sight that greeted him. The image projected on the wall was back to torment him; digging the knife further into his chest. Belle was asleep on the same bed as before. Her chestnut locks splayed across the pillow her head lay upon. Her chest rose and fell, breathing life into the image. He needed to turn away, ignore it as he told himself to, but how could he tear his eyes from the beauty that was his Belle.

Rumpelstiltskin stepping closer reaching a trembling hand out to the projection. Closer and closer, he inched, not breathing nor taking his eyes from Belle. If he touched the projection, to know for sure that's all it was and not some sort of portal to who knows where.

Deep blue eyes suddenly gazed upon him. Rumpelstiltskin froze as if turned to stone, Belle's sad eyes staring into his wide, reptilian ones. Maybe he imagined it, the recognition on her face, the way she looked at him and not through him. Maybe this wasn't a hallucination. Mesmerized, he stood stock still, never breaking eye contact. The sadness of her face dug a deeper hole into his chest. He was the cause of her sorrow. She loved him and yet, he sent her away like she was a leper.

"Belle" he murmured, barely able to find his voice. "Can you hear me?"

"Rumpelstiltskin?"

Her response nearly brought his heart to explode. She could hear him! The projection was not another torment his imagination had cooked up. Belle was real and she was alive!

"Belle, where are you?" he asked urgently, though it was too late to rescue her now. He was trapped until the curse began. He wouldn't even remember her on the other side of the curse, but he had to know where she was being held. Somehow he'd rescue her. He'd find a way.

"The-" The projection suddenly vanished in a whisk of light.

Rumpelstiltskin stood, slack-jawed, staring at the stony wall. He swallowed noisy before his muscle learned to move again. "Belle? Belle!" He felt the wall, finding only the jaggedness of the stones.

Belle was gone again.


End file.
